Many times have I heard the phrase, “A rule of life provides the pegs on which to hang our whole lives.” I certainly understood what that meant, and I knew what that meant for myself. However, as my children increased in age and maturity, I always asked myself, “What is too much for them? What is too little?” After fumbling around for some time, I was able to reach a balance for our family so that the less spiritually mature were practicing spiritual exercises that did not overburden or discourage them while providing the more mature with at least a satisfactory amount of time to drink at the springs of prayer.
Below is an example of a Rule for children to follow, mostly based on my own experience. Some have their own devotions that are not shown here, but this is the minimum in our home. It is better to tie each of these prayer times to a daily events so they don’t get lost in the day. I know many people, for example, who pray the Family Rosary as soon as the supper dishes are finished.
Morning Offering & Prayers
Mass, when available
Grace before Meals (and after when we remember! We better work on that!)
1/2 hour of meditation and spiritual reading. I encourage them not to make it a 1/2 hour of reading but do not limit them in time to one or the other. This is where my more mature ones will use the time in meditation because they’ll read at other times, and my less mature will use more of the time in reading.
Family Rosary with other family devotions tacked on the end
Evening Prayers & Examen
This week, I ran across this beautiful homily on prayer which addressed the different types of prayer and the minimum demands to satisfy justice due to God. https://youtu.be/kyEoL_CjVG0
Catholic Traditions in the Home 